Balance stop for door type elevators



BALANCE STOP FOR DOOR TYPE ELEVATORS Filed March 29, 1937 INVENTOR.

- M ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 11, 1938 V r umreosrmes PATENT OFFICE:Herbert E. Gran, Los Angeles Calif assignor .to Byron Jackson '00,,Huntington Park, Calif.,

a corporation of Delaware .ApplicationrMarch 29, 1937, Serial No.133,608 3 Claims. (01. 294- 91) This invention relates to a balance-stopcohtive contact with the face of the eye, regardless struction for doortype lslip elevators such as of the size of the eye in the link, :or itsangular employed in handling tubing or drill strings in position withrespect to the elevator ear. operations at the mouth of a deep .well.This A .further object of the invention .isto provide 5 type of elevatoris in the form ofla split collar a balance means employed in a lug forthis pure comprising two pipe encircling members one of pose, with a capwhich :can be applied 'to ?the which is a body member extending acrossthe sameto take up the clearance; also, to conback, theother zpart beingadoor connected to struct these parts in such a way that they will the:b'ody'atone side by axmovable joint orlzhinge. cooperate to take up theclearance between the The 'dOOI'JlS capable ofbeing swung to an open lugand theeye to support the elevator in an 10 position .to .permltsthe.elevatorxtobeappliedto upright "position when it is open. r the tubing,or to :permit the tubing to beremoved V .A :further object of theinvention is to profrom'the elevator. This type of elevator is :used.vide cooperating means betweenvthe cap and the largelywith.weldlesszsupportinglinks, which enlug, which will operate toprevent .any rotation gage .the outwardly :projecting :lug's on the pipeof theabolt after the cap .hasbeen :applied to it. encircling. memberstosupporttheelevator.. The Further objects of the invention will appearlower end ofeachlink has an eye, whichreceives hereinafter. 1 r

the lug,.and..in.order to "permit the insertionof The invention consistsin the novel parts and the lug through theeyegit isnecessaryto havecombination of parts toibe described hereinafter,

considerable playgbetween the .side faces of the all of which contributeto produce an efficient 20 lug inthe adjacent rtaces .of the .eye. .2011'acbalancestop .for .door type elevators.

count :of this.playior:clearancebetweenithe lug: i-A preferredembodiment .of the invention is and the (face of the :eye, whengthe:door of an described in the following specification, while theelevatorofnthis type is in'itsopemposition, the broad scope of ".theinvention is pointed out in weight "of the .door'unbalancesthe.;elev.ator and the appended claims. 1 r 25 would permit the elevatorto tilt .iorwardly so In the drawing: that the :elevator wouldnot beheldin its normal .Fig- 1 is :a horizontal section taken through orupright position. iin' orderito overcome this the :eyes ofthe elevatorlinks about .on the line objection and main'tainthe :ele-vator.uprightin ll of Fig. 2,.and illustrating. the=elevator in its 3 itsopenpositiom'ithas :been ;the practice -hereopen position.

tofore to employan adjustable bolt mounted in Fig.2 is aside elevationof :the elevator illusthe .face ofthe lug near its-,upper and ;forwardtrated in'..l'Fig- :1, P u p n an enlarged scale. side, andthis bolt isadjusted outwardly :to :en- This viewis ajfragmentary view, :andrepresents gage theadjacentxface of the link, thereby. take theend ofthejslug in elevation with the upper ing up the play 'or'clearancereferred.to. The portion of the link and adjacent portions of the 35contact between theheado'f theboltand the elevatorbroken-away. adjacentface of the :eye usually *takes :place Fig. 3 is a partial-section takenabout on the along the edge of the bolt head, and 1,a1though line.3':3:.of Fig. 2, but :uponan enlarged scale, the 'bolt may be screwedout furtherto reflect and. illustrating the :preferred details of con-"40 a bettercontact with the face of the eye, this strnction for thehead-o'fzthebolt and'cap. 40 necessitates a relatively long shank on the:bolt Referring "more particularly to the parts, the and a longerthreaded opening inthe lug, both elevator .11 is composed of "two a pipeencircling of which are objectionable. Furthermore, varimemberscomprising a body member -:2a and a ous sizes of links maybe and .are:used with a door member-2b, which arefconnected togetherat givenelevator. Thesizeofthe Qyesin these links one side preferably by a hingeconnection -3, 45 vary, and their angular positionwith "respectntowhichapermits the members 2a and 2b to swing the elevator ear variesalso. Either or .both of apart-as illustrated inJEig. F1,to.open theelevator thesevariations results in a ,poor contact befor the :admissionor removallof ithe tubingj The tween the link and elevator ear, thuspermitting outer. .side .of each member .i2a, 12b, is provided theelevator to tilt when open. with an .outwardly projecting lugfl..Thesetjugs 50 tobject oij the present inventionyisto proare supportedinthe :eyes .5 ;of:weld1ess;links'16. vide abalancegstopconstruction for-.slipeleva As indicated in Fig. 2, which shows .theend torsof thistype, which canbe readily applied elevation-pf one ,o f-rthe lugs,ethese glugs taper sotas-totakenpthe clearance betweenthe lug and in .anupward direotion sp :as to present side heeraandh a i mai.; r vi.deanfia ces, or cheeks 1.,whichvhaveaimmature or 55 contour approximatingthat of the adjacent inner faces 8 of the eye 5. The outer end of eachlug is provided with a downwardly projecting bill 9 to prevent the eyefrom slipping off from the lug.

As indicated in Fig. 2, a considerable amount of play or clearance isnecessary, forming a gap H] at the forward side of the lug, and unlesssome means is provided to eliminate this play or clearance, the elevatorwill tilt forward when in the open position.

In applying my invention, I provide means mounted in the forward face orcheek l of the lug, and this means projects outwardly toward theadjacent face of the eye; and I provide a cap or similar meanscooperating with the same to eifect an adjustment at this point, andfill the gap between the lug and the face of the eye. In order toaccomplish this, I prefer to provide the lug with a threaded opening 13to receive the threaded shank of a bolt l4, said bolt being pref erablyprovided with a substantially square head l5 (see Fig. 3). This bolt maybe adjusted outwardly by means of a wrench applied to its head, or bymeans of a small lever bar inserted in threaded sockets i6 provided inthe side faces of the bolt head, the purpose of which will presentlyappear.

On the head of the bolt I provide a cap H, which is preferably in theform of a slightly elongated block having a wideslot 48 cut into thesame on its bottom side, and extending in from one end, said slot beingsufficiently wide to receive the shank of the bolt M, and the sides ofthis slot are cut with channels i9 to receive the bolt head. After thebolt has been adjusted out sufficiently, the cap or block I! is slidfrom the outer side over the bolt head [5, and when the cap is appliedthe bolt l4 should be in a. position such that the upper or outer faceof the cap will engage the face 8 of the eye. In this way substantiallyall the clearance existing at this gap ID will be taken up.

I prefer also, to provide means for retaining the cap on the bolt head,and for this purpose the butt end 20 of the cap is provided with a pinor small threaded bolt 2|, whch passes in through the end of the cap andhas threaded engagement with any one of the threaded sockets l6. Ifdesired, a cotter 22 may be provided alongside of the reduced neck 23 onthis small bolt or screw 2 I, to prevent the same from working outaccidentally. If desired, a spring washer 24 may be applied under thehead of this threaded pin or screw 2!.

Elevators of this type are usually provided with outwardly projectinghandles 2c at the front, to facilitate the opening and closing of theelevator.

I prefer to provide means cooperating with the cap to prevent itsrotation, and thereby prevent rotation of the bolt l4. For this purpose,at the face 1 where the bolt I4 is applied, I may provide a shoulder 25,which is engaged by the lower side face of the cap or block l'lwhenit isslid into position.

It will be evident that an elevator having this improvement willmaintain itself in an upright position when open; and, furthermore, thedevice constituting this improvement can be readily adjusted to adapt itto variations in the eyes of different elevator links that may beapplied on the lugs.

While I have indicated my improvement as applied on both of the lugs ofthis elevator because this is preferable, nevertheless, it should beunderstood that if the improvement is applied to only one lug, it wouldstill perform the function of supporting the elevator upright when open;but it is obvious that in order to relieve undue strains on a singledevice, it is preferable to employ two as illustrated.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described hereinis only one of the many embodiments this invention may take, and I donot wish to be limited in the practice of the invention, nor in theclaims, to the particular embodiment set forth.

What I claim is:

1. In a balance stop construction for door type slip elevators, thecombination of a tubing elevator having a pair of pipe encirclingmembers with hinge means connecting the same to enable the said membersto swing apart to open the elevator, one of said pipe encircling membershaving a pair of oppositely disposed outwardly projecting lugs; asupporting link for each lug having an eye receiving its correspondinglug, at least one of said lugs having a balance bolt mounted thereinwith a head located in the space between the lug and the adjacent faceof the eye, and a cap remoyably attached to the head of the bolt forengaging the face of the eye adjacent the bolt head to hold the elevatorsubstantially upright when open.

2. In a balance stop construction for door type slip elevators, thecombination of a tubing elevator having a pair ofv pipe encirclingmembers with hinge means connecting the same to enable the said membersto swing apart to open the elevator, one of said pipe encircling membershaving a pair of oppositely disposed outwardly projecting lugs, asupporting link for each lug having an eye receiving its correspondinglug, at least one of said lugs having a balance bolt mounted thereinwith a head located in the space between the lug and the adjacent faceof the eye, and a cap having a slot to slide laterally over the bolthead, the outer face of said cap operating to engage the face of the eyeadjacent the bolt head to hold the elevator substantially upright whenopen.

3. In a balance stop construction for door type slip elevators, thecombination of a tubing elevator having a pair of pipe encirclingmembers with hinge means connecting the same to enable the said membersto swing apart to open the elevator, one of said pipe encircling membershaving a pair of oppositely disposed outwardly projecting lugs, asupporting link for each lug having an eye receiving its correspondinglug, at least one of said lugs having a balance bolt mounted thereinwith a head located in the space between the lug and the adjacent faceof the eye, a cap having a slot to slide laterally over the bolt head,the outer face of said cap operating to engage the face of the eyeadjacent the bolt head to hold the elevator substantially upright whenopen, and means for securing the cap on the bolt.

4. In a balance stop construction for door type slip elevators, thecombination of a tubing elevator having a pair of pipe encirclingmembers with hinge means connecting the same to enable the said membersto swing apart to open the elevator, one of said pipe encircling membershaving a pair of oppositely disposed outwardly projecting lugs, asupporting link for each lug having an eye receiving its correspondinglug, at least one of said lugs having a balance bolt mounted thereinwith a head located in the space between the lug and the adjacent faceof the eye, and a cap removably attached to the head of the bolt forengaging the face of the eye adjacent the bolt 5 head to hold theelevator substantially upright when open, said lug having means forengaging the side of said cap to hold the same and the bolt againstrotation.

I 5. In a balance stop construction for door type slip elevators, thecombination of a tubular elevator having a pairof pipe encirclingmembers with hinge means connecting the same to enable the said membersto swing apart to open the elevator,

one of said pipe encircling members having a pair of oppositely disposedoutwardly projecting lugs, a supporting link for each lug having an eyereceiving its corresponding lug, at least one of said lugs having abalance bolt mounted therein with an angular head located in the spacebetween the lug and the adjacent face of the eye, and a cap removablyattached to the head of the bolt for engaging the face of the eyeadjacent the bolt head to hold the elevator substantially upright whenopen, the side faces of said bolt head having threaded sockets therein,and the butt of said cap having a. pin therein to be received in one ofthe sockets to retain the cap on the bolt head.

6. In a, balance stop construction for door type slip elevators, thecombination of a tubing elevator having a pair of pipe encirclingmembers with hinge means connecting the same to enable the said membersto swing apart to open the ele+ vator, one of said pipe encirclingmembers having a pair of oppositely disposed outwardly projecting lugs,a supporting link for each lug having an eye receiving its correspondinglug, at least one of said lugs having a balance bolt mounted thereinwith a substantially square head located in the space between the lugand the adjacent face of,

the eye, a cap removably attached to the head of the bolt andconstructed to slide onto the same from the side, for engaging the faceof the eye adjacent the bolt, the butt end of said cap having a threadedpin swiveled therein with the threads of the pin located at its innerend, the side face of said head having a threaded opening to receive thethreaded end of the pin.

'7. In a balance stop construction for door type slip elevators, thecombination of a tubing elevator having a pair of pipe encirclingmembers with hinge means connecting the same to enable the said membersto swing apart to open the elevator, one of said pipe encircling membershaving a pair of oppositely disposed outwardly projecting lugs, asupporting link for each lug having an eye receiving its correspondinglug, balance bolt means mounted in at least one of said lugs, a capcarried by the said last-named means for engaging the adjacent face ofthe eye, and co-operating with the same to enable an adjustment of saidcap into substantial contact with the adjacent face of said eye to holdthe elevator substantially upright when open.

8. An elevator having a pair of pipe encircling members with hinge meansconnecting the same to enable the said members to swing apart to openthe elevator, one of said pipe encircling members having a pair ofoppositely disposed outwardly projecting lugs, in combination with abalance bolt mounted in one of said lugs, and a cap mounted on the outerend of said bolt to co-operate with the eye of a supporting link tomaintain the. elevator in an upright position when the same isopen. V

HERBERT E.- GRAU.

